WASHINGTON  Former CIA
and FBI director William Webster said Thursday that the United States should consider
administering "truth drugs" to uncooperative al-Qaeda and Taliban captives at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere to try to obtain more details about terrorist
operations.

Speaking to a small group of reporters here,
Webster said the use of drugs such as Sodium Pentothal or other "invasive" tactics
short of torture might make U.S. agents more effective in penetrating al-Qaeda's
worldwide network.

"We ought to look at what options
are out there," said Webster, who has been an adviser on law enforcement issues
to Republican and Democratic administrations.

Webster's
proposal reflects the frustration felt by U.S. security officials, who say that
interrogations of hundreds of prisoners detained during the war on terrorism have
yielded relatively little. It also raised a parallel issue that has begun to trouble
civil rights advocates and some American officials: whether the USA, by sharing
information with the security forces of friendly nations, could be condoning the
physical and psychological brutality those nations use to interrogate terror suspects.

"This
is a two-way street," says Jordan Paust, international law professor at the University
of Houston. "We have to consider whether something we do or condone would be acceptable
if it were done to one of our people."

'Truth serum' doesn't guarantee confession

What
is "truth serum"?

It is a
barbiturate called thiopental sodium, better known as Sodium Pentothal, a trademark
of Abbott Laboratories. It is a yellow crystal that can be dissolved in water
or alcohol and administered orally or intravenously.

What
does it do?

Sodium Pentothal
is used as a sedative and as an anesthetic during surgery. It depresses the central
nervous system, slows the heart rate and lowers the blood pressure. Patients on
whom the drug is used as an anesthetic usually are unconscious less than a minute
after it enters their veins. The drug causes only a few minutes of sedation. Because
of its effectiveness as a sedative, it is the first of three drugs used by U.S.
prison systems during executions.

In
milder doses, the drug becomes what some call a "truth serum." Those taking the
drug become very communicative and share their thoughts without hesitation. Despite
its nickname, Sodium Pentothal will not make a person tell the truth against his
will. The recipient likely will lose his inhibition, and therefore he might be
more likely to tell the truth.

Sources:
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary and the American Medical Association

The FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies
typically frown on physically coercing or drugging prisoners. They prefer to use
psychology and investigative savvy to extract information. Authorities typically
are focused on making sure they obtain information without violating a suspect's
constitutional rights because they don't want to jeopardize having such evidence
ruled inadmissible in court. But in trying to prevent future acts of terrorism,
authorities often are focused more on obtaining quality information than they
are on preparing cases for court.

In recent weeks U.S.
officials, namely Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have emphasized that the
USA will not resort to such tactics to get more information out of hundreds of
al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees being held in Cuba, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

However,
there are signs that U.S. officials hope to benefit from interrogations by other
governments that might not adhere to such guidelines. One of the most cooperative
al-Qaeda leaders captured since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Ibn al-Shaykh
al-Libi, has been held by Egyptian authorities. A Defense Department source said
this week that the Egyptians might be using interrogation methods on al-Libi that
would not be available to U.S. questioners.

"Egyptian
jails," former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro said, are "full
of guys who are missing toenails and fingernails."

Responding
late last year to reports that the FBI was considering more aggressive methods
of interrogation of terrorist suspects that might involve drugs, bureau officials
said that "while large and difficult investigations often bring moments of frustration
for investigators, none would advocate what is being suggested."

CIA
officials declined to comment Thursday about the agency's tactics, except to indicate
that the agency does not "engage in or condone torture."

But
Webster suggested that using "truth serum," a mild, short-term anesthetic, might
not be physical abuse. Former FBI criminal profiler Clint Van Zandt said he has
questions about such an idea but said it might be worth exploring. "When it came
to interrogation ... we took pride in winning psychological chess games" with
suspects, Van Zandt said. "But sometimes the good guys finish last. In cases of
life or death, I would like to see another tool in our toolbox."

U.S.
authorities involved in terrorism cases increasingly found themselves drawn into
a legal and ethical gray area as they rely on information developed by foreign
police whose tactics would be unacceptable or even illegal here.

U.S.
officials got help from the Jordanian police investigating Ahmed Ressam, who was
convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport during the
1999-2000 celebrations of the new millennium. A Ressam associate who later was
tried in Jordan claimed he was beaten by police there. The rule in such cases,
Cannistraro and other CIA veterans said, is a variant on "don't ask, don't tell":
U.S. investigators will accept information from anyone, but they cannot encourage
torture.

In recent months U.S. agents have confronted
other ethical and legal issues as they have supplied allies with information that
has led to arrests and detentions of suspects in other countries. Robert Baer,
a former CIA officer who operated in Europe and the Middle East, said he knows
of "dozens" of cases since Sept. 11 in which foreign terrorism suspects were held
abroad based on information passed along by the FBI, CIA or other U.S. authorities.

Amnesty
International USA said that passing on such tips violated the United Nations'
anti-torture treaty, which the U.S. Senate ratified in 1993, if the tips sent
prisoners to nations that use "moderate physical abuse" during interrogations.

Whether
administering Sodium Pentothal constitutes torture is an open question. The drug,
which works by easing inhibitions and making subjects more talkative, can be injected
or dissolved in water. Abbott Laboratories, its maker, said it is used mostly
as a hospital anesthetic and is not marketed as a "truth serum."

In
1995 and in 1999, the U.N. investigated allegations that truth drugs had been
used in France and the Philippines without reaching a conclusion. The body did
say, however, that using truth drugs would constitute torture because it is physical
abuse aimed at extracting information.

In the only U.S.
Supreme Court decision to deal with truth drugs, a 1963 case, the court said that
a Florida man who confessed to a murder had a right to a hearing to determine
the validity of his claim that truth drugs were used on him. It is unclear whether
the use of such drugs in that case was ever established.